Always Here For You
by Overgron'sLilLamb
Summary: "This is the Quinn he knows, the one who doesn't let these things get to her, and he hates to admit it but he's worried about the fact that she's back because even though this Quinn is a lot easier to deal with, he knows and has seen what this Quinn does to the real, fragile Quinn, and he doesn't want to go back there, ever again."
1. An Epiphany, A Crush and A Novel

It's a Wednesday, almost a Thursday, when Quinn Fabray wakes up from a bad dream at 10:35pm and realizes that she's done living in this fantasy world that she's built for herself ever since she was a child.

Even in kindergarten when they'd play 'House', Quinn would fight to be Finn's wife- because he was the handsome, tall, brunette-haired popular little boy and she was the gorgeous, blonde-haired, hazel eyed popular little girl. And all of this had made perfect sense to Quinn until that Wednesday night when she awoke having what one may call an epiphany.

When Quinn thought back in time, she realized that Finn had been by her side only at the good times- When she was a popular little girl in kindergarten, Finn was her best friend. When she won the title of "Little Miss Lima, Ohio" at the age of 7, Finn was the first person she took a picture with. When she was at the top of the pyramid in cheerleading and the most popular girl at William McKinley High; Finn was her boyfriend and now that she was topping the prom queen votes, he was there by her side again- but whenever she went through tough times, Finn was the first to leave. When she grew plumper in middle school, Finn teased her, stopped answering her phone calls and asked her to never speak to him again. When she started getting acne, Finn would send her disgusted looks from across the cafeteria and would laugh at her with his other friends. When she was pregnant in her junior year, Finn left her on her own to deal with it. Granted, she had cheated on him, but if he really loved her the way he numerous times had claimed, he would have at least stood by her side a little longer and not gone off to Rachel as soon as it had happened.

So, maybe it was time Quinn left Finn's side. Yes, she needed him to get to the top of the Prom Queen voting but if she was only going to win because she had Finn at her side, then she'd rather not. It angered Quinn to think of how Finn had always gotten off easy while she had always had to pay the price. The first time she'd cheated, she landed up pregnant and the second, she came down with mono (and a serious case of heartbreak). Finn never had to deal with any of this. He had lied to Rachel about saving his first time for her and had caused Quinn to cheat on Sam, and what had happened to him? Nothing. Yes, he had also gotten mono but he hadn't gotten his heart broken, ever.

So, it's a Wednesday, going on Thursday, when Quinn Fabray wakes up and decides that she's going to have to move on from her Finn phase, fast, because he's never going to be there for her when she really needs him, and then she goes back to sleep.

_**Thursday Morning**_

There he is, parading down the halls with a smug look on his face and a hand up waving like a fool. If Quinn hadn't followed his direction, she would have thought he was waving to her, like he should be because she _is_ his girlfriend, but instead his wave is directed to the short brunette a few lockers down from her who is excitedly waving back. Finn walks right past Quinn, up to _her_, smiles and leans against her neighboring locker- trying to act all cool and casual but failing terribly, and from her locker, just a few meters away, Quinn has to push herself really hard to not let out the chuckle that's threatening to explode because she really wants to hear what Finn has to say to this girl, who isn't his girlfriend, and so, she can't be seen or heard but Finn really looks ridiculous and Quinn can't even begin to imagine why Rachel actually looks like she's enjoying Finn's presence, genuinely.

_"So, I hear you've been writing some original music" _

_"How did you... Oh, Kurt?" _

_"Yeah." _

_"I asked him not to tell anyone"_, and she sounds genuinely annoyed that Kurt had told him, maybe even enough to tell him to leave..._" But I understand. Brotherly trust and all of that"_ ...or maybe she isn't.

_"Sorry. Hey, do you maybe want me to listen to one of your songs someday. You know, I could be like those people on Idols and X-Factor, the ones who tell the people whether they can sing or not, not that I'll tell you that you can't sing, cause you can! I know that." _

_"Hahaha. You mean a critique or judge?" _

_"Yeah, that thing" _

_"Well... I'd actually love that" _

_"Cool, just say when and where and I'll be there." _

_"Hmmm... How's this afternoon? I'll meet you at-"_

But Quinn doesn't get to hear where they'll meet because there's a slight tap on her shoulder which makes her jump a little and when she turns and sees Sam standing there, his eye-brows raised in confusion but his lips curved into the shape of a smile, she realizes how weird she must have looked- standing in front of her locker, the door wide open with her head leaning a little more back than necessary, so that she wouldn't miss a word. Sam just shakes his head at her, smiling, realizing what she was up to and turns to his locker, the one to the left of hers, and begins to open it, shuffling through the books inside it. Apparently some time in between Quinn's sudden eavesdropping interruption and now, Rachel and Finn had decided to walk on as when Quinn turns she find them walking down the hall, probably to Chemistry, which they have together every Thursday morning. Quinn realizes that she's going to have to speak to Finn about her revelation later on and turns to talk to Sam who seems pretty absorbed in his locker. "Hey Sam" "Morning Q" He pulls his head out of his locker for a few seconds to greet her with a smile then pushes it back in there, seemingly looking for something very important. "Whatcha looking for there?" "I seem to have lost my novel and I need to find it or Mrs. G is going to make me sit in front with her... again." Quinn giggles as Sam's head comes out of his locker again, this time his nose all crunched up as to show his disgust. Being in the same English class as him, Quinn understands his predicament. Their teacher, Mrs. Golbraith-commonly referred to as Mrs. G- has a crush on Sam and appears to have no problem with being very forward about it. Just last week Sam had forgotten his novel and as punishment had to sit at the front with her. The old lady had ended up spitting at him thrice and winking at him twice and had continuously started small, meaningless conversations with Sam when the rest of the class was doing their work, leaving Sam with lots of homework. Quinn had actually felt sorry for Sam, so she reached into her own locker and pulled out her novel handing it to him.

"Here, take mine. You can use it and I'll just sit in front. I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a crush on me!" Quinn says while giggling and she really doesn't know how, but she finds herself always feeling so at ease around Sam.

"Thank you so so sooo much Quinn. I owe you!" "It's my pleasure" Sam smiles at Quinn, again, then looks back at his locker to pack the rest of his morning stuff into his bag. "Hey Sam?" " Yeah?" "Do you think it's wrong?" "Huh?" "Do you think it's wrong? I really only did it 'cause he walked right past me and I wanted to know what was so important and-",Quinn bursts into a real long speech and even though Sam has quite a good idea of what Quinn's talking about, he can never be too sure. "Quinn, what are you talking about?" "You know, Finn and Rachel..." "Oh, naaah! I think its ok. You had reason to, I suppose. He totally ignored you and stuff." Sams not sure if he's the best person to be asked about this, being the ex and all. "I'm going to break up with him this afternoon." "Oh." "Because he's never there for me when I need him and he always choses Rachel over me" " I understand" " I know you do". Sam who has now closed his locker door and slung his bag over his shoulder, gives Quinn a smile and a quick 'See you later, Q. Thanks again' before he turns and walks away. Quinn turns back to her locker and once she's sure she has all her books she closes her locker and turns to see Sam walking and talking with Mercedes. "You always do understand Sam... You always do..."

_**Period 1: English**_

"Can everyone please take out their novels?" Mrs. G starts the lesson and Quinn sitting close to the back internally sighs. She's hoping Mrs. G won't notice that she doesn't have her novel because she really hates sitting in the front and she feels like kicking herself because really now, why did she give her novel to Sam anyway? He's with Mercedes now and she should be giving him her novel, but no, she's sitting comfortably next to Sam with her own novel in her hand, smiling at him flirtatiously and Quinn quickly has to look elsewhere because she feels she might puke if she sees them being all 'couple-y', but her eyes land on Sam who is actually looking right back at her apologetically and Quinn is about to send him back a look that says, "What did you do?" But then she hears Mrs. G's voice next to her and she realizes what his expression was all about.

"Miss Fabray, where is your novel?" _With Sam._

"At home" _Lie._

"Why is that?" _I was trying to be a good friend._

"I forgot it this morning" _Another Lie._

"Come sit in the front with me then."

And Quinn picks up all of her stuff and moves to the front where she's forced into sitting right infront of her teacher. When she walks past Sam& Mercedes, Sam looks at her and mouths 'sorry' and she just smiles back at him, even though inside she's kind of annoyed that she's given her novel to Sam when Mercedes should have and now she's here without her novel or Sam and Mercedes, she's got her novel and Sam and that's just not fair, ok?

The lesson goes on fine until they actually open their books to read. Quinn, sitting in front has to read a lot because their teacher claims to love her reading voice and _isn't she in that school singing group anyways, so she should be proud to show off her voice_? Quinn though knows that it's just because she's forgotten her novel and it's easier for Mrs. G to correct her if she's right in front of her and also, if Quinn reads, Mrs. G can spend her lesson staring at Sam. _Have you no shame?_ Quinn wonders in her mind, she's finally not reading anymore and she turns in Sam's direction to see that he's actually staring right back at her. He once again mouths a quick 'sorry' and Quinn gives him a look to say 'it's fine, I'm enjoying it here in the front' _All Lies. _And she's pretty sure Sam realizes it's all lies when as soon as Jacob Green is finished reading a page Mrs. G hands over reading rights to Quinn again, spitting at her in the process.


	2. Flicked Hair and A Cheater

_**Period Two: Maths**_

Quinn rushes out of English and on to Maths so she can get away from Mrs G and Sam with his apologetic eyes. She enters the Maths classroom a few minutes before anyone else so she's got time to sit down, get out her books and get ready to take down notes. The rest of the students slowly begin to fill in and soon the bell rings and the lesson begins. She's alone in this class ,being the only one in her group of friends clever enough to make it to the higher grade Mathematics class, so she sits alone at the back of the class where she can't be seen by anyone but can see everyone and everything. Quinn's not sure how it happens but one minute she's taking down notes on Algebra and noticing how Angela Figgle's hair flicks in the wrong direction and the next she's thinking about Sam and his flicked hair and Finn and how messed up her life is and she just starts crying. Its weird, and random,_ especially for a girl like her_- usually all composed and proper,never letting any emotion show, but right now at the back of her Maths class, she's willling to let it all out while her teacher drags on about finding x in an equation she knows she'll never see again in her lifetime.

Quinn is more than joyed when the bell rings indicating the end of the second period. _1 more lesson before a break_, she thinks to herself as she begins to gather her things and walk out. She'd spent this lesson crying a little then crying a little more because she was crying and then felt like slapping herself 'cause she actually has no real reason to be crying at all, so she'd straightened herself up and wiped her eyes dry then spent the last 15 minutes of the lesson trying to decide how to break up with Finn. As she walks out of Maths she tries to spot Finn so she can tell him to meet her at her locker after this so they can talk. When she can't seem to spot him she decides to just look for him later, she'd rather not be late for History. As she turns a corner though, she spots Finn, but he's not alone-hes with Rachel- and they aren't just standing at her locker speaking or making plans or anything, no, they're standing there with their tounges down each other's throats, with their hands roaming over each others bodies and even though Quinn wants to scream and shout and cause a scene and call Finn a liar and a cheater and then kick over a chair, she doesn't. Instead, Quinn turns around, her vision blurry because of the tears now filling her eyelids-but she doesn't let them fall-, and begins to slowly walk towards the girls toilets where she plans to spend her History lesson locked in a cubicle crying, she doesn't want to cause a scene in the hallway so she walks slowly and attempts to avoid all people. She isn't looking up and has only taken about 3 steps when she bumps into somebody._ Great._ The person is quick to apologize and Quinn knows that voice better than anyone elses. She assumes he's seen what she's just seen 'cause he's looking at her like she's just heard the news that her cat's died or dog's run away and she hates it when people pity her, and even more when its _him_ so she shakes her head,in a way to tell him its ok, and let's the tears fall then runs away. Its what she's best at, running away when things get tough. She hears him calling her and she feels his voice getting louder, nearer. She's not as athletic as she used to be so its easy for him to catch up to her and soon, before she can reach her desired destination and comfort of the girl's toilets, Sam's got a grip on her wrist and he spins her around and pulls her into a hug. She stays in his embrace and crys even more. She begins to cry because this must have been how Sam felt when she cheated on him and _how could she hurt him like that_? And then she cries because After Finn broke her and Sam up,_ he still cheated on her _? And she continues to cry for reasons unknown to Sam, but he continues to hold her in his arms and slowly guides her into the boys locker rooms which is now empty because Lesson 3 is on its way and he realises that they're both missing History but right now, Quinn matters more.

When half an hour passes, Sam slowly pushes Quinn away from him to look at her and he can see the damage that Finn's done. She's still crying a little but she's noticebly calmed down. Her eyes are red and puffy, her face is flushed and there a line of wet, smudged mascara mixed with eye liner running down her cheeks, and yet Sam still thinks she's the most beautiful girl he'll ever see. He knows its wrong because he has a girlfriend, one who is absolutely gorgeous too, but he can't help but notice how natural Quinn's beauty is. He remembers when they were dating how he'd always tell her she looked beautiful just because he knew she felt fat and insecure at times and then he begins to wonder how long its been since someone's last called her beautiful. " I look like a complete mess, don't I?", her voice breaks his thoughts. Its vulnerable and quiet and if you listen close enough you can even hear her heart break in every word she says. "No, no. You look beautiful", she blushes and looks down before she looks up at him with an amused smirk on her face but he can tell she isn't actually amused by anything. "Is that why he cheated on me? I mean I realise that I've done it too so maybe he just wanted revenge but with _her _of all people? My sworn enemy!", she stops to take a breath and apparently re-arrange her thoughts , "its been a long time coming though. I was going to break up with him today anyways.", she finishes and Sam nods. This is the Quinn he knows, the one who doesn't let these things get to her, and he hates to admit it but he's worried about the fact that she's back because even though this Quinn is a lot easier to deal with, he knows and has seen what this Quinn does to the real, fragile Quinn, and he doesn't want to go back there, _ever again_.


	3. Flashbacks and Forever

_**Period 3: History**_

They had been together for 3 weeks before he really saw her cry. The first time was actually on their first date, at Breadstix, where -he constantly argues that- she had teared when declaring it a date -and she always argues she had not-, but this time, 6 weeks later , it felt more real. They'd been going on dates for 3 weeks before she had allowed him to ask her the question they all knew he was longing to ask, "Will you be my girlfriend?", so afterwards he had gotten used to having things move slower with her- it wasn't as though he had much experience, so he was fine with taking the time to get to know each other- and so it wasn't much of a surprise to him when it took her 3 weeks of being in a relationship, 6 weeks of "dating", to finally feel comfortable enough to show emotion in front of him.

It had happened at around 8pm one Monday night. He was sitting in his room, at the table, trying to make sense of some stupid math problem when he had felt the vibration of his cellphone in his pocket. Digging it out of his pocket, he glanced at the screen to see "Quinn3" flashing across and brought it to his ear, answering in a voice specially reserved for her, "Hey Sweetheart". Her response was one he was not expecting. "S-Sam, I...I need... I need you.". At first, Sam had thought too _into_ the words and had blushed upon realizing what it was she was saying. He had had a perfect response worked out and opened his mouth to say it but halted upon hearing a great sob from the other side of the phone. It was only then that he realized she was crying and his previous realization was probably wrong. "Quinn, baby, tell me what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Her response was short, but felt as though it were the longest sentence ever. "It, its Beth." She let out one more sob before he responded. "I'll be right over."

He hadn't known much about Beth before that, just the basics that he'd been told on his first day at William McKinley. She'd walked past him and he'd felt star struck, his eyes fixed on her as she continued to walk down the hallways, further and further away from him. Apparently, he'd been 'staring' for too long because a girl, a little shorter than Sam with bright orange hair and hazel brown eyes, tapped him on the shoulder. Turning around Sam looked a little shocked to see this stranger standing there, touching him. "Uh. Hi?"He'd offered. "Don't wanna go there dude. That's Quinn Fabray, head Cheerio. She had a baby with Puckerman last year. He's in Juvie now." She'd said and then she walked away. Sam had stood there for a little while shocked out of his mind. It surprised him, to this day, how people labeled her as "The Head Cheerleader who had a baby with Puckerman" and used the label so freely, you'd think it were her name. He'd gotten a label too at one point, "Sam Evans, the homeless dude who started stripping to buy he's family a TV", but he hadn't cared. He'd seen how Quinn had ignored her label and soon it had dropped, so he did the same.

It took Sam all of 6 minutes to get to Quinn's house a few blocks down from his own. When he arrived there he knocked on the door 2 times before opening the door and going right in. He knew Quinn's mum wasn't home, so he was free to go right in, as Quinn had said.

Following the sounds of sobs he made his way up the stairs to Quinn's bedroom where he found her in a corner, knees pulled up, hugging her legs, head down, crying. She'd once told him it was her favourite spot in her room. Her bookshelf didn't quite reach the end of her wall & her study table had been mounted to the wall, making it impossible for her to move that to the end of the wall, so it left a little space between the study table and bookshelf which as she described just felt "cozy and comfy and as though it could be wherever I want it to be". Next to her on the floor there was a frame lying picture side down, but he didn't have to see the picture to know which photo it was that frame held, he knew already. It was a cute pink frame with little glittery stars in random places and held a picture of a little girl named Beth. "Quinn?" Her head popped up and Sam was a little taken aback by her appearance. Her eyes were red and puffy, her face looked flushed- as though someone had drained all the life out of it- and her hair stood in odd directions, she looked like a mess and still looked so perfect to him at the same time, more perfect than he'd ever seen her before. He walked over to where she was and squeezed himself in next to her, sitting down he pulled her onto his lamp and embraced her like a mother would her child. She cried a little more before finally speaking. "Sh-Shelby called, she... She said she and Beth, they were in an...an accident." A fresh lot of tears took over and Sam just rubbed her arm in a way of comfort. "A guy, he... He hit into the passenger side where Beth was... She... She was asleep in her car seat." Sam knew what was coming, he knew what usually happened when accidents like that had occurred. "She was terribly injured and they have to do a lot of operations," she stopped, wiping at her cheeks, "and there's only a 50-50 chance of whether or not she'll make it out... A-alive." More tears came and as Quinn continued to wipe them away, more came. Sam held her tight and close, letting her cry as much as she wanted too. After a while, he pulled back a little and looked her in the eyes while saying, "She's gonna be alright Quinn, I know she is, and you wanna know how I know? I know because I know her mother, and I know that her mother is **such **a strong young lady and I... I know that her mother never gives up and I know that she fights until the very end and so I know that little Beth, she, oh, she's gonna be just fine because she's got a mother so beautiful and so strong and so amazing that she'd given her up so she could have a better life and so, she won't wanna let her mother be disappointed, now would she?" Quinn looked at him as another wave of tears began but a little smile crept out too. " I'm never leaving your side, you hear me? I'm here for you." She held on to him even tighter after this and responded, "Your words sound so honest". "Its because they are." "Yeah?" "Yeah."

But they weren't. None of his words were. She'd cheated on him and he'd left her, all by herself, and now sitting in the boys locker room holding her to him again as she continues to sob a little, he is reminded of that time when he really did think he would be with her forever. Perhaps forever was too long a time for them.


End file.
